Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Obama holds fundraiser with American Indians

President Barack Obama, raising money for his campaign among tribal leaders, said Friday he wants American Indians to be "full partners" in the economy. Obama met with 70 to 75 supporters from Native American tribes. Democratic officials said the fundraiser would benefit the Obama Victory Fund, a joint committee of the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Members of the Native Mob gang have shot rivals in Minneapolis, sold drugs in Duluth, and thrown boiling water in a person's face in Crow Wing County. Authorities say they've also assaulted an informant on the White Earth Indian Reservation and shot up houses from Cass Lake to Mille Lacs. This week's federal indictment of 24 suspected Native Mob members will disrupt the activity of one of Minnesota's most violent gangs and could bring some communities a reprieve from violence, authorities said. But it likely won't dismantle the organization -- which is highly structured, active in prison, and wields power from the Twin Cities to reservations throughout Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

They’re powerful words routinely used to stereotype people living on American Indian reservations: poor, violent, alcoholic and obese. Students at one high school on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Rosebud Sioux tribe, have one response: We’re more than that. Behind the attention-grabbing headlines and pictures of reservation life, there’s a rich culture and sense of pride that often goes unnoticed, students from Todd County High School in Mission said.

Ex-Guatemalan military leader Efrain Rios Montt is to be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity. Gen Rios Montt, 85, was in power from 1982-1983, when some of the country's worst civil war atrocities occurred. Whole villages of indigenous Mayans were massacred as part of government efforts to defeat left-wing rebels. Gen Rios Montt, who has denied ordering massacres, refused to comment in court. But a judge ruled he had a case to answer, placing him under house arrest.

Local artist Teri Rofkar is going boldly into the future with new artwork that features modern materials and a political edge.Rofkar was one of two dozen artists or art groups in the U.S. to receive the grant, and the first Alaskan chosen in the history of the program. The grant is worth about $90,000 over two years in funding and other assistance.

The Isthmus of Tehuantapec, Mexico's narrowest point, is a powerful wind tunnel of air currents whipping through the mountains that separate the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The wind is "sacred" in this village, says indigenous Huave fisherman Donaciano Victoria. This isolated region of the state of Oaxaca is one of the world's most continuously windy spots. And because wind is a valuable commodity in a world seeking alternative energy, a "wind rush" – reminiscent of the gold and oil rushes of other eras – has swept into the isthmus.

Two Oklahoma-based American Indian tribes filed court documents Thursday saying the state’s plan to ask a state court to determine the tribes’ water rights won’t resolve their federal lawsuit. The Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations filed a federal lawsuit in August to stop the Oklahoma Water Resources Board from selling its water storage rights to Sardis Lake in southeastern Oklahoma to the Oklahoma City Water Utility Trust without first reaching an agreement with the tribe.